Remodel gives Gig Harbor Puerto Vallarta a ‘facelift’

Now almost three weeks into a remodel, the work on the Puerto Vallarta Mexican Restaurant in Gig Harbor is moving along as fast as possible.

Restaurant owners Sergio and Patricia Andrade said that the last remodel was in 2008 and it was time to update the look of the restaurant.

“The restaurant was in a need for a facelift,” Sergio said, adding that this facelift includes tables, chairs, booths, walls, decorations and updates to the cantina, especially the outdoor patio area.

The overall space of the restaurant and cantina will not change, Patricia said, but the area will be updated.

“It’s just going to be nicer,” she said. “It’s going to be more comfortable.”

The outdoor patio will now feature a fireplace and some new landscaping to make the area welcoming during the warmer months, she said.

Part of the new decor will include some decorations such as light fixtures or tiles that Sergio purchased on a recent trip to Mexico.

“It’s just stuff you can’t really find here,” he said. “It’s always nice to go down there and see things in person and see what’s trending down there and incorporate those things up here.”

The couple is working hard to finish the remodel in order to open for Cinco de Mayo. The only difficulty they’ve encountered so far is in hiring new staff, Patricia said.

“We are in need of more staff because we know we’re going to be busy and we don’t want to disappoint anybody,” she said.

Interested applicants can apply at the Port Orchard Puerto Vallarta restaurant, located at 1599 SE Lund Ave, or through the Facebook page for the Gig Harbor Puerto Vallarta restaurant.

The couple purchased the Gig Harbor restaurant from Sergio’s father in 2001, but the restaurant has been a Gig Harbor fixture since 1982.

Sergio and Patricia are the owners of several other Puerto Vallarta restaurants — which is not a franchise but remains a family-owned business — including the Puerto Vallarta location in Port Orchard.

Another restaurant owned the couple owns is Blue Agave, located in the Gig Harbor Uptown shopping complex and in Port Orchard, which is a Mexican restaurant concept that is Sergio’s own.

After so many years in the Gig Harbor community, updating the restaurant was both a business decision and a community one.

“We’ve been members of the community for a long long time. We live in the community and are very proud to be here,” Sergio said. “We want people to come to a restaurant that we’re proud of and have a couple of margaritas.”

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 9:42 AM with the headline "Remodel gives Gig Harbor Puerto Vallarta a ‘facelift’."